Finding Your Niche
Have you ever heard the expression, "do what you love?" This is one of the keys to running a successful business. If you thoroughly enjoy your job, it will reflect on your company.
Finding your niche is easier than you think. Make a list of your favorite hobbies or activities. No matter what the hobby, put it on the list—sewing, computer games, reading, cooking, baking, etc. State those hobbies that you feel you are exceptionally good at. Use this list to come up with business ideas. Quite simply, here are some ideas and the route you could take:
- Baking: Cake making is a highly successful business. Few people have time to make their own cakes for birthday parties, weddings or other celebrations. You may need to take a course or two to hone your cake decorating skills. An average wedding cake sells for $60 to $300 depending on the design. A second option is to create homemade baked goods for parents who are too busy to cook for school functions but do not want to show up with store-bought goods. In areas across the United States, home bakers are responsible for the goodies that are showing up at school bake sales or holiday parties because it is much easier for the working parent. Online bakeries do exist, but it is critical to pay attention to shipping. Limiting the area to which you sell is important for things like cakes, muffins or cupcakes, cookies or candies are easier to ship.
- Computer Games: Unless you have skill as a game designer, you will have problems finding a job building computer games. In fact, even those holding game design degrees are under pressure to find jobs in this struggling market. What you can do is to create a game review website, online video game retailer or computer game rental store online. Computer game rentals are starting to catch on, but Game Fly is really the only company running this business at the moment.
- Cooking: So many people trying to eat nutritious meals, the fact is there are still many people who cannot cook. If you have skills, an online website with kitchen supply sales, online cooking lessons, and even ebooks are a great option. Another idea is to sell your own spice blends or jar mixes.
- Painting: One of the best ways to market your talents as an artist is online where you can reach a much larger target audience. You can set up an online studio showcasing your best work and selling paintings, sculptures or photography to interested clients. Or you can even use your artistic skills to create websites or do graphic design.
- Reading: Regardless of television trends, people still love to curl up with a book. Bookstores do exceptionally well, though it is harder to compete with Amazon.com or BN.com online. If you opt for an online bookstore, come up with something that makes it unique. Another possibility is to take your love of books and create a membership fee based online lending program or swap meet type, online bookstore where customers can trade in books to gain points towards free books.
- Sewing: The options here are endless. You can create custom clothing, handle zipper replacements, alterations or other repairs or make quilts to order. With the poor economy, many men and women are turning to having a seamstress repair worn clothing to save money. Because many towns lack seamstresses, people are willing to ship their clothing to someone in another area to have it done for them.
There are thousand of possible ideas. As long as you have a hobby and a bit of creativity, you can turn your favorite pastime into a thriving business. Remember to be open to trying different spins on your hobby. If you narrow your idea down and find that there are tons of competing businesses, you will need to come up with a suitable option that sticks with your interests while matching a customer's requirements.
- What Makes a Niche?
- Finding Your Niche
- Narrow Down the Business Idea to a Profitable Niche
- Developing Your Product Or Service
- Marketing Tactics
